"If you can improve your circumstances in fair and legitimate ways, by all means do so; but if you cannot, and if you have to remain in a trying and difficult position, do not be mastered by it, do not let it get you down, do not let it control you, do not let it determine your misery or your joy.

'You,' says the apostle, 'must come into the state in which, whatever your conditions, you are not controlled by them.' That is what he affirms of himself. 'Whatever my condition or circumstances,' he says in effect, 'I am in control. I am master of the situation, I am not mastered by the situation. I am free. I am at liberty. I do not depend for my happiness upon what is happening to me. My life, my happiness, my joy and my experience are independent of the things that are going on about me, and even on the things that may be happening to me.'"

~ D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Life of Peace: Studies in Philippians 3&4

Learn to Like

School yourself to savour most
Joys that have but little cost;
Prove the best of life is free,
Sun and stars and sky and sea;
Eager in your eyes to please,
Proffer meadows, brooks and trees;
Nature strives for your content,
Never charging you a cent.

Learn to love a garden gay,
Flowers and fruit in rich array.
Care for dogs and singing birds,
Have for children cheery words.
Find plain food and comfort are
More than luxury by far.
Music, books and honest friends
Outweigh golden dividends.

Love your work and do it well,
Scorning not a leisure spell.
Hold the truest form of wealth
Body fit and ruddy health.
Let your smile of happiness
Rustic peace serenely stress:
Home to love and heart to pray--
Thank your God for every day.

~ Robert Service

Philip Parham tells the story of a rich industrialist who was disturbed to find a fisherman sitting lazily beside his boat. "Why aren't you out there fishing?" he asked.

"Because I've caught enough fish for today," said the fisherman.

"Why don't you catch more fish than you need?' the rich man asked.

"What would I do with them?"

"You could earn more money," came the impatient reply, "and buy a better boat so you could go deeper and catch more fish. You could purchase nylon nets, catch even more fish, and make more money. Soon you'd have a fleet of boats and be rich like me."

The fisherman asked, "Then what would I do?"

"You could sit down and enjoy life," said the industrialist.

"What do you think I'm doing now?" the fisherman replied as he looked placidly out to sea.

Our Daily Bread, May 18, 1994

His Eye is On the Sparrow

http://youtube.com/watch?v=n8NhZN9UJU4

"Let me, if I may, be ever welcomed to my room in winter by a glowing hearth, in summer by a vase of flowers; if I may not, let me think how nice they would be, and bury myself in my work. I do not think that the road to contentment lies in despising what we have not got. Let us acknowledge all good, all delight that the world holds, and be content without it."

~ George MacDonald

A man in the Russian Gulag had had enough. He decided he'd carried his last stone from pile A to pile B for his tormentors in this Sisyphean farce. He laid himself down to await execution by shovel blade. Just then a fellow prisoner sidled up and, wordless, traced the shape of a cross in the dust; walked away. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn then gathered himself together and scooped up another rock--this time knowing why.

The rest is history.

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation," quoth Henry David Thoreau. But I know a better quote: Malcolm Muggeridge said the happiest person in the world is the woman who sweeps out her house to the glory of God. She is not aware of the grievousness of her days because she has transcended them with knowledge; she has "overcome" and will receive the hidden manna and also a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to her (Revelation 2:17).

Two Women working in a field: One has joy, the other not. What makes them differ who outwardly appear equally yoked? Is it not this, that one keeps her eye on the Omega point, the goal to which all streams run?

Ah, Omega point! And thus am I brought to this happy epiphany one day, only to find (why should I be surprised?) that when I arrive at a new conceptual shore, He has arrived ahead of me. He has anticipated my question and given answer--before I ever had the thought, before I ever breached the womb: "I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end," He says (Revelation 21:6). Fix your eyes, o my soul, on the Omega point, and be not unduly bogged down in beta, gamma, and the rest. "Therefore, my beloved, brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:58 ).

~ Andree Seu, Won't Let You Go Unless You Bless Me

Thank you for posting these! I find them very encouraging.

Love this new thread. Thanks as always Madre! :-D

[loveyou] gals!

Some rules to gain contentment:


1. Allow thyself to complain of nothing, not even the weather.

2. Never picture thyself to thyself under any circumstances in which thou are not.

3. Never compare thine own lot with that of another.

4. Never allow thyself to dwell on the wish that this or that had been, or were, otherwise than it was, or is. God Almighty loves thee better and more wisely than thou doest thyself.

5. Never dwell on the morrow. Remember that it is God's not thine. The heaviest part of sorrow often is to look forward to it. "The Lord will provide."

~ E.B. Pusey (1800-1882)

Some rules to gain contentment:


Quote:
1. Allow thyself to complain of nothing, not even the weather.

2. Never picture thyself to thyself under any circumstances in which thou are not.

3. Never compare thine own lot with that of another.

4. Never allow thyself to dwell on the wish that this or that had been, or were, otherwise than it was, or is. God Almighty loves thee better and more wisely than thou doest thyself.

5. Never dwell on the morrow. Remember that it is God's not thine. The heaviest part of sorrow often is to look forward to it. "The Lord will provide."

~ E.B. Pusey (1800-1882)


Now, those are some awesome rules-if only I could follow all of them the majority of the time!!

"O Lord, whose way is perfect, help us, I pray Thee, always to trust in Thy goodness: that walking with thee and following Thee in all simplicity, we may possess quiet and contented minds; and may cast all our care on Thee, for Thou carest for us. Amen."

~ Christina Rosetti

It's Better Higher Up


The famous preacher D.L. Moody told about a Christian woman who was always bright, cheerful, and optimistic, even though she was confined to her room because of illness. She lived in an attic apartment on the fifth floor of an old, rundown building.

A friend decided to visit her one day and brought along another woman,a person of great wealth. Since there was no elevator, the two ladies began the long climb upward. When they reached the second floor, the well-to-do woman commented, 'What a dark and filthy place!" Her friend replied, 'It's better higher up." When they arrived at the third landing, the remark was made, 'Things look even worse here." Again the reply, 'It's better higher up."

The two women finally reached the attic level, where they found the bedridden saint of God. A smile on her face radiated the joy that filled her heart. Although the room was clean and flowers were on the window sill, the wealthy visitor could not get over the stark surroundings in which this woman lived. She blurted out, 'It must be very difficult for you to be here like this!" Without a moment's hesitation the shut-in responded, 'It's better higher up." She was not looking at temporal things. With the eye of faith fixed on the eternal, she had found the secret of true satisfaction and contentment.

~ Our Daily Bread

Madre, How very much I've missed you and your wonderful posts! This is such an awesome thread! So very much to think about, pray about, and be thankful for.[clapping] Thank you so much!!

Thanks, Geri![hug]


Contentment

by William Cowper

(Phillipians, iv.11)

Fierce passions discompose the mind,
As tempests vex the sea,
But calm, content and peace we find,
When, Lord, we turn to Thee.

In vain by reason and by rule
We try to bend the will;
For none but in the Saviour's school
Can learn the heavenly skill.

Since at His feet my soul has sate,
His gracious words to hear,
Contented with my present state,
I cast on Him my care.

"Art thou a sinner, soul?" He said,
"Then how canst thou complain?
How light thy troubles here, if weigh'd
With everlasting pain!

"If thou of murmuring wouldst be cured,
Compare thy griefs with mine!
Think what my love for thee endured,
And thou wilt not repine.

"'Tis I appoint thy daily lot,
And I do all things well;
Thou soon shalt leave this wretched spot,
And rise with me to dwell.

"In life my grace shall strength supply,
Proportion'd to thy day;
At death thou still shalt find me nigh,
To wipe thy tears away."

Thus I, who once my wretched days
In vain repinings spent,
Taught in my Saviour's school of grace,
Have learnt to be content.

From The God of All Comfort by Hannah Whitall Smith:

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/smith_hw/comfort.XVII.html

Most Christians have, I suppose, sung more often than they could count, these words in one of our most familiar hymns:

Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
More than all in Thee I find.

But I doubt whether all of us could honestly say that the words have expressed any reality in our own experience. Christ has not been all we want. We have wanted a great many things besides Him. We have wanted fervent feelings about Him, or realizations of His presence with us, or an interior revelation of His love; or else we have demanded satisfactory schemes of doctrine, or successful Christian work, or something of one sort or another, besides Himself, that will constitute a personal claim upon Him. Just Christ Himself, Christ alone, without the addition of any of our experiences concerning Him, has not been enough for us in spite of all our singing; and we do not even see how it is possible that He could be enough.

The psalmist said in those old days: “My soul, wait thou only upon God: for my expectation is from him.” But now the Christian says, “My soul, wait thou upon my sound doctrines, for my expectation is from them”; or, “My soul, wait thou on my good disposition and feelings, or upon my righteous works, or upon my fervent prayers, or upon my earnest striving, for my expectation is from these.” To wait upon God only seems one of the unsafest things they can do, and to have their expectation from Him alone is like building on the sand. They reach out on every side for something to depend on, and, not until everything else fails, will they put their trust in God alone. George Macdonald says: “We look upon God as our last and feeblest resource. We only go to Him when we have nowhere else to go. And then we learn that the storms of life have driven us, not upon the rocks, but into the desired haven.”

No soul can be really at rest until it has given up all dependence on everything else and has been forced to depend on the Lord alone. As long as our expectation is from other things, nothing but disappointment awaits us. Feelings may change, and will change with our changing circumstances; doctrines and dogmas may be upset; Christian work may come to naught; prayers may seem to lose their fervency; promises may seem to fail; everything that we have believed in or depended upon may seem to be swept away, and only God is left, just God, the bare God, if I may be allowed the expression; simply and only God.

Contentment

by William Cowper

(Phillipians, iv.11)

Fierce passions discompose the mind,
As tempests vex the sea,
But calm, content and peace we find,
When, Lord, we turn to Thee.

In vain by reason and by rule
We try to bend the will;
For none but in the Saviour's school
Can learn the heavenly skill.

Since at His feet my soul has sate,
His gracious words to hear,
Contented with my present state,
I cast on Him my care.

"Art thou a sinner, soul?" He said,
"Then how canst thou complain?
How light thy troubles here, if weigh'd
With everlasting pain!

"If thou of murmuring wouldst be cured,
Compare thy griefs with mine!
Think what my love for thee endured,
And thou wilt not repine.

"'Tis I appoint thy daily lot,
And I do all things well;
Thou soon shalt leave this wretched spot,
And rise with me to dwell.

"In life my grace shall strength supply,
Proportion'd to thy day;
At death thou still shalt find me nigh,
To wipe thy tears away."

Thus I, who once my wretched days
In vain repinings spent,
Taught in my Saviour's school of grace,
Have learnt to be content.

This was really beautiful! TFS! :) I also found the excerpt from The God of All Comfort (Smith) helpful.

On "contented receiving":

http://frugalhacks.com/?p=225

Call it contentment, call it cheerful frugality, call it crazy–but this works. When you receive any gift as if you are a queen, it becomes the treasure that someone hoped it would be.

For many years, my grandma never even received a Christmas gift–not because her husband couldn’t afford one, but because he never noticed. Eventually some of his daughters told him that this was unacceptable.

So that Christmas eve when my grandpa bought five identical music boxes from the dime store–all for his one wife? ”Oh, my! How beautiful! Now I have one for every room in the house!”

When he ordered the first George Foreman grill from late night TV… “This is the best kitchen product I’ve ever seen! I’ve never had a minute steak so tender. Let’s order a few more before they sell out completely.”

When he selected a diamond heart from the local overpriced jeweler (an item she would have deemed tacky on any other woman)… She oohed and aahed as expected, but surprised me by wearing it the rest of her life.

With ten children and 30-plus grandchildren, the mountain of presents grew taller each year. Yet each gift was somehow the favorite, the most unique, the most clever. Even when you knew she would never use an item, you never doubted her delight or the twinkle in her eye.

You could have handed her a box of tissues, and you’d leave feeling like you’d found hand-embroidered linen handkerchiefs she hadn’t seen since her last trip to Europe. She made you feel great, no matter what you gave.

From Elisabeth Elliot:

http://www.backtothebible.org/gateway-to-joy/contentment.html

I think of a dear, sweet, old lady by the name of Mrs. Kershaw. When I came home from college one time for Christmas vacation I was eager to see Mrs. Kershaw. My mother had been writing letters about this dear lady she had discovered was a widow. She lived all by herself in a rackety, packity old house with hardly any furniture. I don't know how she maintained the house at all, but she was the sweetest most cheerful, loving and outgoing person you've ever seen in your life. She was stone deaf and hunchbacked and poor.

I remember the day I walked into the kitchen when I had come home for Christmas vacation, and here was this lady dressed in black with a very big hump on her back. She was leaning over the sink washing dishes by hand. I tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around with the most radiant face and looked at me. She said, "Oh, it's the daughter." She had been hearing about the older daughter during those months when I was in college, and so she was eager to meet me.

Well I've never seen a more radiant face. I think of the words in Philippians 4:6-7, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Mrs. Kershaw demonstrated that peace in everything that she did.

She had one object in mind when she came every morning to the Howard household--What can I do to make the Howards happy--and she did it.



Number 1: Contentment cannot dwell with anger.
Number 2: Contentment cannot dwell with self-pity.
Number 3: We are to give thanks always and for everything. That's what the Bible says. We are to give thanks always and for everything (Eph. 5:20).

http://www.peterwade.com/articles/other/thankcom.shtml

But complaining is always alike, whether it is on the temporal or the spiritual plane. It always has in it the element of fault-finding. Webster says to complain means to make a charge or an accusation. It is not merely disliking the thing we have to bear, but it contains the element of finding fault with the agency that lies behind it. And if we will carefully examine the true inwardness of our complainings, I think we shall generally find they are founded on a subtle fault-finding with God. We secretly feel as if He were to blame somehow; and, almost unconsciously to ourselves, we make mental charges against Him.

On the other hand, thanksgiving always involves praise of the giver. Have you ever noticed how much we are urged in the Bible to "praise the Lord"? It seemed to be almost the principal part of the worship of the Israelites. "Praise ye the Lord, for the Lord is good: sing praises to his name, for it is pleasant." This is the continual refrain of everything all through the Bible. I believe, if we should count up, we would find that there are more commands given and more examples set for the giving of thanks "always for all things" than for the doing or the leaving undone of anything else.

It is very evident from the whole teaching of Scripture that the Lord loves to be thanked and praised just as much as we like it. I am sure that it gives Him real downright pleasure, just as it does us; and that our failure to thank Him for His "good and perfect gifts" wounds His loving heart, just as our hearts are wounded when our loved ones fail to appreciate the benefits we have so enjoyed bestowing upon them. What a joy it is to us to receive from our friends an acknowledgment of their thanksgiving for our gifts, and is it no likely that it is a joy to the Lord also?

~ Hannah Whitall Smith, Thanksgiving Versus Complaining from The God of All Comfort

Nine requisites for contented living:

Health enough to make work a pleasure.
Wealth enough to support your needs.
Strength to battle with difficulties and overcome them.
Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them.
Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished.
Charity enough to see some good in your neighbor.
Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others.
Faith enough to make real the things of God.
Hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future.

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Scottish minister Alexander Whyte was known for his uplifting prayers in the pulpit. He always found something for which to be grateful. One Sunday morning the weather was so gloomy that one church member thought to himself, "Certainly the preacher won't think of anything for which to thank the Lord on a wretched day like this." Much to his surprise, however, Whyte began by praying, "We thank Thee, O God, that it is not always like this."

~ Daily Bread, August 26, 1989

Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord Will Provide
(Genesis, xxii.14)

The saints should never be dismay'd,
Nor sink in hopeless fear;
For when they least expect His aid,
The Saviour will appear.

This Abraham found: he raised the knife;
God saw, and said, "Forbear!
Yon ram shall yield his meaner life;
Behold the victim there."

Once David seem'd Saul's certain prey;
But hark! the foe's at hand;
Saul turns his arms another way,
To save the invaded land.

When Jonah sunk beneath the wave,
He thought to rise no more;
But God prepared a fish to save,
And bear him to the shore.

Blest proofs of power and grace divine,
That meet us in His word!
May every deep-felt care of mine
Be trusted with the Lord.

Wait for His seasonable aid,
And though it tarry, wait:
The promise may be long delay'd,
But cannot come too late.

~ William Cowper

that is so good Madre! Im sending that on to a friend if thats ok with you.

Of course! :-D I sent it to a couple of people, too.

Elijah and the Secret of Contentment

The fare in the widow's home was frugal enough and there was only enough of it for their daily needs. Human nature, which was as strong in the prophet as in the rest of us, would have preferred to be able to count sacks of meal and barrels of oil. It would have been pleasant to go into some spacious storeroom and, looking around on the abundant provision, say, "I have goods enough to carry me through the years of famine. I will eat, drink, and be merry." But this is not God's way nor is it the healthiest discipline for our better life.

God's rule is, Day by day. God provides for each day as it comes. The manna fell on the desert sands each {47} day, enough for that day. But it fell every day without fail. God will provide us with enough strength each day to meet that day's demands: "as thy days, so shall thy strength be" (Deuteronomy 33:25). And they who live like this are constantly reminded of their blessed dependence on their Father's love. They are led back again to the life of the little child. They know nothing of those temptations to self-sufficiency which work ruin in the rich as the myriads of minute insects of the southern seas silently eat away the bottoms of mighty vessels which are able to defy the storms.

If God were to give us the choice between seeing our provision and keeping it ourselves or not seeing it and leaving Him to deal it out, day by day; most of us would be almost sure to choose the former alternative. It gratifies our sense of importance to count up our stores, our barrels, and our sacks. It invests us with so much superiority to our neighbors. It gives such a sense of security. But we should be far wiser to say, "I am content to trust Thee, Father, the living God who gives us all things richly to enjoy. Keep Thou the stores under Thine own hand; they will give me less anxiety, they will not lead me into temptation, they will not expose me to be jealous of others less favored than myself."

And those who live thus are not worse off than others; nay, in the truest sense, they are better off because the responsibility of maintaining them rests wholly upon God. They are delivered from the fret of anxiety, the strain of daily care, and the temptations which make it almost impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. If God guarantees, as He does, our support, does it much matter whether we can SEE the sources from which He will obtain it? It might gratify our curiosity, but it would not make them more sure. They are in existence {48} and beneath His eye; and they will come safely to our hand. The main thing is to understand the precious promise, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33). Then let us go on doing our duty, filling our time, working out the plan of our life. We may be as free from care as the birds that have neither storehouse nor barn. We may laugh as merrily as the child who comes in from school to eat and goes out again to play and is utterly thoughtless about his next meal. We may be entirely destitute, our pantry bare, our money exhausted, and our means of livelihood gone. But our Father has ample resources. His are the cattle on a thousand hills, and His the waving corn-fields, and the myriad fish of the ocean depths. His hired servants have bread enough and to spare, He has prepared a supply for our need, and He will deliver it in time. We only need to trust Him.

It is impossible to tell whose eyes may read these words, but if they should be read by those whose aim it is to be independent, let them consider what they mean. Do they mean to be independent of God or of men? They will live to see that they can be independent of neither. And the serious question presents itself, Is this a worthy aim for those who are bought slaves of Christ? Surely we are meant to be stewards; not storing up our Lord's money for ourselves, but administering for Him all that we do not need for the maintenance of ourselves and our dear ones in the position of life in which God has placed us. And our only worldly aim should be to lay out our Lord's money to the very best advantage so that we may render Him an account with joy when He comes to reckon with us.

If, on the other hand, these words are read by those {49} who are dependent on daily supplies -- with little hope of ever owning more than the daily handful of meal and the little oil at the bottom of the cruse -- let them be comforted by the example of Elijah. "Be content with such things as ye have; for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). The bottom of the barrel may have been scraped today; but tomorrow there will be just enough in it for tomorrow's needs. The last drop of oil may have been drained today, but there will be enough for tomorrow. Anxiety will not do you good; but the prayer of faith will. "Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of." He who lit life's flame knows how much fuel is required to keep it burning. Throw all responsibility on God. He who gave His own Son will with Him freely give all things. Do not listen to the arch-liar, who bids you distrust and despair. He has never yet been justified by the event. His prophecies have always proved false. His insinuations are simply beds of rank and poisonous stinging nettles. Do not lie down in them, but trample them beneath your feet. Oh that we might learn, though it be in the school of privation to be content in whatever state we are and to be able to cry with one of Elijah's compeers, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13). "For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth" (1 Kings 17:14).

~ F. B. Meyer, from Elijah and the Secret of His Power

The Shepherd Boy Sings in the Valley of Humiliation

He that is down needs fear no fall,
He that is low, no pride;
He that is humble ever shall
Have God to be his guide.

I am content with what I have,
Little be it or much:
And, Lord, contentment still I crave,
Because Thou savest such.

Fullness to such a burden is
That go on pilgrimage:
Here little, and hereafter bliss,
Is best from age to age.

~ John Bunyan (1628-1688 )

"But now I began to exercise my self with new Thoughts; I daily read the Word of God, and apply'd all the Comforts of it to my present State: One Morning being very sad, I open'd the Bible upon these Words, 'I will never, never leave thee, nor forsake thee'; immediately it occurr'd, That these Words were to me, Why else should they be directed in such a Manner, just at the Moment when I was mourning over my Condition, as one forsaken of God and Man? Well then, said I, if God does not forsake me, of what ill Consequence can it be, or what matters it, though the World should all forsake me, seeing on the other Hand, if I had all the World, and should lose the Favour and Blessing of God, there wou'd be no Comparison in the Loss.

From this Moment I began to conclude in my Mind, That it was possible for me to be more happy in this forsaken Solitary Condition, than it was probable I should ever have been in any other Particular State in the World; and with this Thought I was going to give Thanks to God for bringing me to this Place."

~ Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

11-2. RESTING IN HIS REST

"Now the just shall live by faith" (Hebrews 10:38 ).

Until we grow beyond the childish realm of sight and feelings we cannot go forward; up and down, and sideways, but not forward.

"Our Father wants us in the place where we do not depend upon feelings; where, though we do not behold Him, though we do not sense Him, we shall 'endure as beholding Him who is invisible.' He wants us where we can trust Him through darkness and apparent separation, as unflinchingly as in light and fellowship; where we know that His banner, Love, is always floating over us, though it is so dark that we cannot see it.

"There is no grace in delighting in the presence and favor of the Father when they are resting consciously and continuously upon us; for this rejoicing comes from sight and feelings. But there is precious grace in that delight which is not dependent upon His favors, nor upon our enjoyment of them; but which is wholly dependent and has its source in the Father's explicit Word, and His eternal faithfulness."

~ Charles Henry Mackintosh

"When circumstances seem impossible, when all signs of grace in you seem at their lowest ebb, when temptation is fiercest, when love and joy and hope seem well nigh extinguished in your heart, then rest, without feeling and without emotion, in the Father's faithfulness; abide in the fact that He loves you infinitely, and even now is working in you faithfully; and honor Him, and put the enemy to flight by taking to yourself the words of Job: 'Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.' 'I have prayed for thee' (says the One who ever lives to make intercession for us) 'that thy faith fail not.'"

~ David Tryon

"Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward" (Hebrews 10:35)


~ Miles J. Stanford, Hungry Heart Devotional

"So many saints are disturbed, so many are restless, because they are not living in the knowledge that they are under the care of the Lord; and then there is no power to walk. Why have you so little power in walk or service? It is because you are not yet clear that the Lord is caring for you, that He is in all watchfulness over you, that He has let down the strong pinions of His protecting care till they sweep the ground around you, and, if you are wise, you will creep up close under His wings, into the very down."

~ James Butler Stoney

The Son of Man hath not where to lay His head. Matthew 8:20

"The poverty of our Lord and of His disciples is the exact expression of the nature of the religion of Jesus Christ--just man and God: man possessing nothing, professing nothing; yet when the Lord asks at some dawn, after a heart-breaking failure, 'Lovest thou me?' the soul confesses, 'Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.' And when that poverty is a disgust to the full-fed religious world, the disciple does not profess, but confesses, with aching hands and bleeding feet, 'I love Him', and goes 'outside the camp, bearing his reproach'.

We have grown literally afraid of being poor. We despise anyone who elects to be poor in order to simplify and save his inner life. If he does not join the general scramble, and pant with the money-making street, we deem him spiritless and lacking in ambition. We have lost the power of imagining what the ancient idealization of poverty could have meant--the liberation from material attachments, the unbribed soul, the manlier indifference, the paying our way by what we are or do, and not by what we have; the right to fling away our life at any moment irresponsibly, the more athletic trim, in short, the fighting shape."

~ Oswald Chambers, The Discipline of Loneliness